Exercise With Your Dog and Lose More Weight

I love to take my pooch Bonnie out for walks and jogs because I know we both benefit from the fresh air and exercise. It turns out though, people who exercise with dogs can help you drop more pounds than a person who exercises alone. In a study at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Wellness Institute in Chicago, 92 overweight and obese people were tracked for a year. At the end of the year, 61 percent of the pet owners were still participating in the study, compared with 58 percent of those without pets. The pet owners exercised 3.9 hours a week compared to 3.5 hours a week for those without dogs. Those who owned dogs spent two-thirds of their total physical activity time with their furry companions. Since the people in this study who worked out with their dogs exercised for a longer period of time each week, they lost more weight. This proves that a pet dog can help motivate you to work out and keep up with your exercise plan, to help you reach your weight goals.

This is by no means urging you to get a dog for the sole purpose of encouraging you to get off the couch and get moving. It is saying that a pet can be considered part of your support group when it comes to leading an active and healthy lifestyle.

My 11 year old lab/Rottie mix loves her walks. I try to walk her every day, but sometimes if there's a lot of snow, we have to have inside exercise: I throw a ball and she runs after it and brings it back. But yeah, dogs are great exercise buddies.

I have a golden retriever who LOVES walks, but I really only ever want to walk him when its warm outside (mostly in spring/summer). He does have a large backyard to run around in, but I really should start walking him year-round!

I wanted a dog and I wanted to exercise more so my husband I got a dog (a very energetic dog, btw!) and let me tell you, I've been walking for half an hour twice a day every day for the past month and that's something I NEVER would've done on my own without her!

I own a labrador... she is eleven months and has a lot of energy, so usually we have good power walks... but i take her on wknds and my husband takes her on wkdays... she is really strong and i still have issues to control her hahahahahahah... but God do i sweat!!!

Definitely. My dog is very hyper so he needs lots of exercise. I love taking him for early morning walks while the city is still sleeping. And especially with an iPod, going for an hour long walk with him is fun!